A STATE OF MIND

Archana Law describes the imperatives of mind power

Did you know that the cells in your body are affected by your thoughts? And the thoughts that are racing through your mind have the power to build up or tear down your physical and mental health; tell you that you’re not good at what you do or lack talent; warn you when you’re taking risks; and help you achieve your life’s potential?

Every minute of the day, the human body is physically reacting and literally changing in response to thoughts that run through the mind.

It’s been proven that simply thinking about something causes the brain to release neurotransmitters – i.e. chemical messengers that allow the brain to communicate with parts of itself as well as the nervous system. Neurotransmitters control virtually all the body’s functions from hormones and digestion to emotions.

In her book titled ‘The Intention Experiment – Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World,’ Lynne McTaggart cites research carried on for more than 30 years by prestigious scientific institutions around the world. These studies show that human thoughts and intentions are a physical reality with astonishing power to change our world.

Every thought we have is tangible energy with the power to transform. A thought is not only something; it’s a thing that influences other things!

And every thought we have causes neurochemical changes – some temporary and others lasting. For instance, when people consciously practise gratitude, they experience a surge of rewarding neurotransmitters like dopamine, and a general alertness and brightening of the mind. When we see pictures of loved ones, our brain becomes more active in its reward centre – and this gives us that gush of emotion.

What flows through your mind also sculpts your brain in permanent ways.

Your mind constitutes the movement of information through the nervous system. On a physical level, it consists of all the electrical signals below your conscious awareness. As a thought travels through your brain, neurons fire together in distinctive ways based on the specific information being handled and those patterns of neural activity actually change your neural structure.

A thought is an electrochemical event taking place in your nerve cells producing a cascade of physiological changes. As the website www.bestbrainpossible.com notes, “there are thousands upon thousands of receptors on each cell in our body… each specific to one peptide or protein. Each separate emotion of anger, sadness, guilt, excitement, happiness or nervousness, releases its own flurry of peptides, surging and connecting with those receptors, which change the structure of each cell as a whole.”

So bombarding your cells with negative thoughts literally programmes them to receive more of the same (negative) peptides in the future. It diminishes positivity and ensures that you’re more inclined to experience negativity.

You speak to your genes with every thought. The fast-growing field of epigenetics is proving that only about five percent of gene mutations can be considered a direct cause of health issues. The remaining 95 percent are thought to be linked to disorders and can be influenced one way or another depending on life factors.

Although some things like childhood events are beyond our control, others like diet, exercise, stress management and emotional states are directly in our control. The last two factors are also directly dependent on our thoughts.

What your mind perceives is always interpreted, releasing chemicals from the brain that match what you see. So if you see something beautiful, you release chemicals that produce or lead to growth. But if you see something that is threatening, you release chemicals that protect you. And these are two extremes in terms of what happens to your body. You cannot be open and closed at the same time.

There are two minds: the conscious creative mind that is connected to your desires; and the subconscious, which is a habitual mind playing a programme repeatedly.

Your subconscious mind has its default belief programmes imbibed from conditioning in the early years of life. They’re constantly running in the mental background and can either sabotage your motivation or direct you to achieve your goals. Your perception of the world drives your emotional responses and thinking patterns, which in turn govern the actions you take – and ultimately, the quality of life you create.

Every cell in your body is replaced every two months or so. So the good news is that you can reprogramme pessimistic cells by adopting positive thinking practices like mindfulness and gratitude for permanent results.

How often do we postpone living, saying that we’ll live our best lives when we have more time?

Well, there’s no better time than now… to live life to the fullest!